


amongst the flowers

by ivelostmyspectacles



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, M/M, Spiders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 04:04:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20717810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/ivelostmyspectacles
Summary: Working in a flower shop, Martin finds a lot of spiders.[Tied in withall the flowers of all the tomorrows.takes place simultaneously/slightly beyond the main au]





	amongst the flowers

“Oh… hi, little one.”

It was a slow day when he started talking to the insects that ended up coming in with the flower shipments, but, well… it was something to pass the time. Besides, this spider was cute. A little orb weaver.

Martin, for being a general wreck when it came to most things that could even _ possibly _ scare a small child, let alone a large adult, wasn’t afraid of spiders. He wasn’t, like, _ fond _ on them, he didn’t want to wake up to one crawling across his pillow, but he also wasn’t going to kill one for finding its way into his store. It wasn’t its fault that it had ended up there.

“Did you come in with the truck today, or have you been here this whole time?” 

A hazard of working with gardening things, huh. But at least it meant he always had a jar to trap the little arachnids and set them loose outside with.

“You know this isn’t an _ actual _ garden. It’s just my flower shop. Not really a fun place, huh?” The spider fell haphazard to the bottom of the jar, and Martin couldn’t help a tiny, apologetic smile when it immediately tried to scramble up the glass sides. “Sorry,” he said, “but you’ll do much better _ outside. _ In your habitat. Come on, you’re going to tire yourself out, it’ll just take me a second–”

He didn’t think spiders understood human speech, but… it was just a little bit lonely when pickups weren’t scheduled until the latter half of the day.

“There you go.” True to promise, he gently shook the spider free out on the flower displays just beyond his front door. “See? I even let you have the flowers out here. Just like inside. Just brighter, in the sunshine. You’ll be happier out here.” If it would, he really wouldn't find out; the spider had scuttled as soon as he’d let it free in the planter. “Safe travels, little buddy!”

He didn’t realize until afterwards it looked like he’d been crouched over talking to, like, himself or _ the flowers _ until someone had walked by. Overly conscious now, Martin sighed, and headed back in.

  


The spiderweb was sticky, and Martin spluttered as he tried to scrub the remnants of it away from his face. God, he’d had his mouth open– 

The offending spider sat, motionless, on the wall, probably just as annoyed as Martin was that he’d just walked through the line of silk near the staff room.

“Sorry, buddy, but– ergh– you can’t make webs in here. Trust me, I will _ continually _ tear them down, and I’m _ pretty _ sure you want insects and not, like, _ Martin.” _ He scrubbed his hand across his lips and squinted at the critter. “I’m not very tasty. Er, well, I’d– I’d assume not?” Maybe, to spiders, humans _ would _ taste good. And there, now he was imagining a giant spider spinning him into a web he couldn’t escape from and that… wasn’t a very good thing to start the day off with.

“Stupid. Besides,” he said, addressing the spider, “you’re not that big. You could probably web up my pinky,” he said, flexing his little finger. Then he dropped his hands, glancing for the nearest thing to capture the spider with. “But you’ll be better out the back. That way you’ve got the whole alleyway to do your thing, and–”

From the back, his phone started ringing. Jon’s ringtone, the one he’d picked out specifically when they’d officially “started dating,” and Martin perked up, waving a hand through the air to dislodge any lingering web as he went to grab it. “Hang on, hang on, I forgot he said he was calling so early– don’t go anywhere, spider, I’ll get you when Jon and I are done!” he called, shoving the back curtain aside.

Jon talked to him on the phone for a whole half hour, and the spider was, predictably, gone when Martin went back to retrieve it.

  


“Oh, shit–”

Martin’s panic mode kicked into high gear, because, honestly? He’d heard about a _ lot _ of weird stuff from Jon and if something was making _ Jon _ say that in _ that _ tone of voice, it _ had _ to be bad– “What?? What’s wrong?”

“There’s a spider.”

… and there came the letdown. He just sort of deflated, following Jon’s tense, disgusted look towards the spider in the corner behind the desk. It was quite big, he had to admit, but it was… just a spider.

“You’re panicking over a spider?” Martin got up. “After everything you’ve hinted at from work, you chose _ spiders?” _He was teasing, a bit. He knew he probably shouldn’t be, but here was a man who’d survived worms and burns and explosions, been in a coma for six months, and still… managed to turn his nose up at spiders.

“If The Web wasn’t _ quite _ so dangerous, then no, I might not have,” Jon said, hand tense on the countertop like he was ready to either launch himself over to kill the spider or throw himself _ onto _ the counter for protection. “Seeing as how they _ are, _ yes, Martin. I don’t like spiders.”

“They’re so good for the ecosystem, though.”

“So I’ve heard– what are you doing?”

“I’m gonna catch it and let it go.”

“Just _ kill _ it.”

“What??” Martin frowned. “No!”

“Martin,” Jon started, in that half exasperated tone Martin had gotten used to. (He kind of… enjoyed the occasional chastisement, actually, but he wouldn’t _ ever _ say that.)

“I’m not killing a spider that wandered into my place, Jon. It’s just a spider.”

“There’s no such thing as ‘just a spider.’”

“Hate to tell you,” Martin said gently, “but there really _ is. _ I get spiders all the time. They come in with the flowers and stuff, yeah? It’s really just a spider– got it!” He held up the jar to show Jon, and tried desperately to hide the smile when Jon physically recoiled.

“Yes. Fine.” Jon made a face, and then an attempt at regained his composure. “Sorry. A habit, I suppose.” He said it like he didn’t really believe it himself, like he was letting Martin win this one. That was okay. Martin would take it.

“I’ll take it down a bit, so you don’t run into it on the way out. Man the shop?”

“Man the– I don’t know what to do.”

“Just stand here and if anybody comes in, tell them I’ll be back in, I dunno, ten seconds.”

“Martin–” His eyes dropped to the jar, the one Martin was still holding his hand over the mouth of. “… fine, just… please take it.”

This time, Martin couldn’t help but laugh, just a little. “Going!” he promised, and took the spider further than _ absolutely _ necessary, just in case.

  


A thud, and a sharp sigh, a noise that was a tiny signal of frustration from Jon on the worst day, and Martin ducked in from the back quicker than he might have otherwise. “Jon? You okay?”

He didn’t expect to find Jon stood at the counter, brandishing his shoe, but, well… stranger things, he guessed?

“Just fine,” Jon replied, clipped, and he was still staring at the countertop with a faint look of disgust, and–

“Did you just kill a spider?” Martin tried to keep the accusation out of his voice. God knew most people did, and _ yeah, _ he’d managed to pull some details from Jon about The Web so he had good reason for _ hating _ spiders but–

“It’s the third I’ve seen since I _ got _ here,” Jon retorted, strained. And then… his shoulders just sort of slumped, and he had to brace his hand on the counter like it was the only thing keeping him upright under the weight on his shoulders. But… maybe that was true. 

Martin couldn’t _ really _ fault him a dead spider, after everything. “Jon…” he muttered, peeling off the gardening gloves. He’d been transplanting succulents, but, yeah, they could wait. They just needed more space to grow. Jon was the one who looked like he was about to wilt and fall over.

“Save it.”

“I’m not going to _ lecture _ you,” he mumbled, and pretended that didn’t hurt a bit. _ Yeah, _ he had tried to impress upon him the necessity of spiders, tried to tell him things about how _ nice _ they were, once, just to try and get Jon to see they weren’t all _ bad, _ but it hadn’t really worked. And he was scared of stuff Jon wasn’t, and that was _ without _ knowing a lot about the Entities, so he had dropped it. “There’s… there’s just been a lot of spiders lately, yeah? No biggie.”

“That, Martin, is actually _ very much _ a ‘biggie,’” he said, air quotes in his voice even if he wasn’t moving a muscle.

_ “No,” _ he said stubbornly, settling his hand along Jon’s jaw. It was kind of cute when Jon kind of leaned into it, but also just… a bit sad, really. “We’ve had a really warm, really wet summer, Jon. That’s when spiders come out in droves. That’s _ really _ all it is. Okay?”

“I–”

“Jon,” he started, a little warningly.

“… yes,” Jon relented, and sagged the rest of the way into Martin’s touch. And Martin took that as more than permission to go a step further and pull him into his arms. “I’d rather believe that than the alternative,” Jon muttered into Martin’s chest.

“Have you… and–and you probably _ have, _ but– have you ever thought that the, er, The Mother?” Jon’s head inclined in a tiny nod. “That she’s doing this to mess with _ you? _ Making you think there’s things there when there’s not. Or… that they mean more than they do?”

“Yes,” Jon admitted. “And there’s… there’s more weight to that than anything, I suppose, if I’m being rational. But that’s getting harder to do. Especially when I’m here. I just… I just need you to be okay.”

“I’ll be okay.” Martin could promise that. Or, at least do his best to promise that. He’d tell Jon anything right now, to help reassure him that he was just… he was fine. _ Jon _ was the one in habitual danger, not Martin. “And if anything weird happens, I promise I’ll tell you. Okay?”

Jon breathed out, turning his face further into Martin’s shoulder. “Yes. Sorry… I’m sorry,” he muttered. “It’s… it’s been a long week.”

“That's fine, it’s… it’s _ fine, _ but are _ you _ fine?” Jon didn’t _ usually _ lean into him like that. Not that he was complaining or anything, but Jon had to be in a specific mood to be touchy-feely and sometimes it was precipitated by _ weird _ at work. Weirder than usual, anyway. “Something goin’ on?”

“Not anymore than usual.”

“Okay.” He wasn’t going to push. “But if anything weird happens to you, too, you can tell me. I– I mean, I know that’s pretty much _ all _ the time, but–”

Jon huffed a small, humourless laugh, and started to pull away. “I know, Martin… thank you. I– I’ll be okay.”

He let him step back, and smiled reassuringly. _ “We’ll _ be okay,” he said, because he had to, because, yeah, Jon _ needed _ to hear it. There wasn’t a lot he could give Jon, but reassurance? He was good at that.

Jon smiled. A sad thing, and just a little bit of a smile, but a smile, anyway. So it worked.

“I think you can probably put your shoe back on now,” Martin added, a little awkward, but he wanted to move past all of this now that Jon was smiling again. “I mean, just if you want.”

“Oh– right. Forgot.” Jon’s smile was a little more wry, a little genuinely amused with himself, and he plucked the shoe from the counter to put back on.

“Just– technically my shop _ is _ no shoes, no service,” Martin teased.

“Good job I’m not here for flowers, then,” Jon said, without looking up from tying his shoe. 

And that was Jon’s way of saying_ I’m here for _ _ you _ without actually saying it, and Martin laughed nervously and dragged his fingers through his hair. “Yeah– I mean, that’s– that’s really good then, ha.” 

He had to look away from Jon, then, before he riled himself into an embarrassed fluster because _ that _ still happened (and probably always would, since he was Martin and Jon was Jon.) His eyes fell on Jon’s victim instead, the hapless little spider that had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

_ Sorry, little buddy. _ He didn’t say that out loud, just quickly swept the spider’s carcass into his hand to toss in the bin before Jon could straighten from putting on his shoe again. One last, mournful glance at the spider before he dropped it into atop the other garbage, then brushed his hands off and looked back at Jon. “Cup of tea, then?”

“Please,” Jon said, and Martin took his hand to lead him back to his ever faithful kettle.

**Author's Note:**

> about One Day after I posted the original flower shop au I knew I wanted to do something with spiders in his shop. took me a long shit time but here I am! Terrorizing <strike>Martin </strike>Jon! because's Martin a-okay with spiders! hm 🤔 
> 
> <strike>I imagine Annabelle Cane walks into his shop at some point</strike>


End file.
